Shadows Within the Dark
by God of Fire
Summary: It was all he could do to die next to her.


a/n: i dunno what made me write this. maybe my lack of death fics lately. hell, my lack of any fics lately. or amybe jsut my need to kill the freshmen. anyway, enjoy. err.... review.  
  
  
  
  
  
The darkness came swiftly over the grounds of Hogwarts and enveloped everything and everyone in its shadow. A cold wind chilled everyone to the bone and even the enchanted ceiling showed no stars on this night. No, there was something coming.  
  
"It is not safe here," McGonagall said quietly to Dumbledore as her gaze traveled upward to the sky as the two stood outside on the main grounds.  
  
"I feel your worry, Minerva. There is much trouble in the Wizarding World tonight. Things are bound to go wrong, but let them not start here."  
  
"We should usher the children somewhere out of harm's way," Minerva said with a tremble in her voice. "Somewhere where he can't get to them. Where no one can get to them."  
  
"There is not such a place," Dumbledore said softly. "And to try and find one is madness. The only protection I can give them lay behind these walls of stone," he said with a wave of his hand, indicating the school.  
  
"At least give them reassurance and put them somewhere below the ground," McGonagall said.  
  
Dumbledore gave a small nod and the two traveled back inside of the castle to move the student body into the deepest of the tunnels that lead beneath even the deepest of dungeons. But not everything went as planned. Not on this darkest of nights.  
  
Traveling with the shadows was a demon straight out of Hell, his only purpose to kill and maim. He came with the swiftness of the wind and with the fury of a thousand raging fires. His soul had long been lost.  
  
The students that lay sleeping in their beds had no knowledge of the harm that was due to them, and most of them felt no pain as a single blast echoed throughout the silence. Stone crumbled and glass shattered. Blood was spilled amidst the rubble that was once the safest place on Earth. And as soon as he came, he was gone.  
  
In the dungeon Snape rolled over in his bed of stone. He felt the slickness of the blood roll down his face and onto what was left of the green carpet beneath him. He coughed loudly, the sound echoing throughout the empty mess.  
  
After clearning the dust out of his eyes he searched around for his wand in the darkness on his hands and knees. Cursing loudly after about fifteen minutes in the dark he grasped the smooth wood in the middle of what felt like it could have been the contents of the mattress in his quarters.  
  
"Lumos," his raspy voice said with the light that flooded the remnants of the room.  
  
The ruin was beyond what he expected to see. Half of his wall was gone, exposing the rest of the dungeon to his view. Not only was there the rubble from the building, but also red splatters and pools that could only be blood.  
  
As he got up to leave his quarters, Snape realized that Hermione was somewhere in the castle. He needed to find her, to see if she was still alive. And as he walked he came across the bodies of several of his Slytherins, still in their pajamas.  
  
"At least they didn't feel it when it came," Snape said to himself.  
  
At last Snape found his way out of the dungeons, still oblivious as to how he had survived the blast when it was aparent that no one else had.  
  
An hour later he found himself still quite alone in the castle. No one had answered his yells for help. An hour later he also found himself trailing blood as he walked. There was a large gash in his side that he hadn't noticed when he had awoken.  
  
The stairs were almost completely gone as he tried to make his way up them supported only by the light from the tip of his wand. It was a miracle that they still held together under his weight as he made his way through the dark still looking for survivors, but most importantly -her-.  
  
The hallway just outside of the Hufflepuff dorms was a truly bloody sight as most of the dorm was revealed by the lack of wall seperating the dorms from the hallway. Snape stopped in the middle of the gore to empty the contents of his stomach. He did this with the pain of a thousand needles as he lost more blood as well.  
  
As the night wore on Snape felt the fatigue of his blood loss. His steps were dragging more and more and he began to feel very dizzy. Spots floated in front of his eyes and more than once he had dropped his wand. He was all the way to Gryffindor Tower when finally he gave up on the search for her. But that night the gods had favored him, and where he fell was where he wanted to be.  
  
"Hermione," Snape said quietly as he crawled with great difficulty the three more feet to where his beloved lay on the broken stone floor. "Hermione," he hissed again.  
  
There was no response from the witch other than silence and stillness. It was clear that she was gone.  
  
"No," Snape cried as he laid his head down upon her chest. His tears soaked into the shredded garment that she wore.  
  
That night Snape's heart fell apart. Everything that he had ever wanted and loved was gone, taken away from him by the evil that was sure to destroy the world. It was only ironic that he live this hurt for his years of treason not only to himself but to the others around him that lay lifeless in their beds of blood.  
  
It was all Snape could hope for to die before the morning light touched the tattered remains of the castle. It was all he could ever want to hope that he would be with Hermione in the next life. And it was all that he could give to just die beside her.  
  
Those were his dying thoughts as the last of the blood poured out of his body to mix with her own. 


End file.
